Follow Techotopia on Twitter

On-line Guides
All Guides
eBook Store
iOS / Android
Linux for Beginners
Office Productivity
Linux Installation
Linux Security
Linux Utilities
Linux Virtualization
Linux Kernel
System/Network Admin
Programming
Scripting Languages
Development Tools
Web Development
GUI Toolkits/Desktop
Databases
Mail Systems
openSolaris
Eclipse Documentation
Techotopia.com
Virtuatopia.com
Answertopia.com

How To Guides
Virtualization
General System Admin
Linux Security
Linux Filesystems
Web Servers
Graphics & Desktop
PC Hardware
Windows
Problem Solutions
Privacy Policy

  




 

 

 
 

Appendix B. Setting Up a PXE Server

[Note] Experience Required

This appendix is intended for users with previous Linux experience. If you are a new user, you may want to install using minimal boot media or the distribution DVD instead.

This section discusses how to set up a Pre-boot eXecution Environment (PXE) boot server for machines that cannot boot from CD, DVD, or USB media. PXE is a special extension of services provided by the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). It uses a Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server to provide minimal boot files to a network client. To set up a PXE boot service on a separate Fedora server on the local network, follow this procedure:

  1. Install the tftp-server, dhcp, and syslinux packages:

    su -c 'yum install tftp-server
    	  dhcp syslinux'
    
  2. Edit the /etc/dhcpd.conf file to configure the DHCP server. The following example is a minimal configuration for a network that uses the following configuration:

    • 192.168.1.0/24 addressing

    • Dynamic addresses provided between 192.168.1.200 and 192.168.1.240

    • DHCP/PXE server at IP address 192.168.1.10

    • No other dynamic configuration provided

    allow booting;
    allow bootp;
    ddns-update-style interim;
    ignore client-updates;
    
    subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
    	  option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
    	  option broadcast-address 192.168.1.255;
    	  range dynamic-bootp 192.168.1.200 192.168.1.240;
    	  next-server 192.168.1.10;
    	  filename "pxelinux.0";
    }
    
  3. As the root user, copy the PXE boot image and Fedora boot files to the TFTP server directory.

    su -
    cd /tftpboot
    cp /usr/lib/syslinux/pxelinux.0 .
  4. Copy the vmlinuz and initrd.img files from the pxeboot directory on distribution media or a Web mirror to the /tftpboot directory.

  5. Create a minimal /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg file:

    DEFAULT pxeboot
    TIMEOUT 50
    LABEL pxeboot
          KERNEL vmlinuz
          APPEND initrd=initrd.img
    ONERROR LOCALBOOT 0
  6. Turn on the dhcpd, xinetd and tftp services:

    su -c '/sbin/service dhcpd start'
    su -c '/sbin/service xinetd start'
    su -c '/sbin/chkconfig tftp on'

Boot the client system and either use the required keys or configure its BIOS to boot from its network interface using PXE. At the boot prompt, hit Enter to boot the default Fedora installation image. If an error occurs, the system boots in its normal configuration, such as a local hard disk.

 
 

 
 
  Published under the terms of the GNU General Public License Design by Interspire